Empower Person Centered Plans -

Megan Paslak

We are heading toward Thanksgiving and I have so much to be thankful for during this crazy year of 2020. Number one on my list is that I reached out to Sandra McElwee of Empower Person-Centered Plans for assistance with Self Determination for my Daughter Hannah.

Hannah was chosen for the California Self Determination (SD) pilot program and we were 2 years in without attempting to start the process. I attended all the trainings with the regional center, including Person-Centered Planning, but I didn’t feel adequately equipped.

Sandra was the answer to our prayers. She took a huge elephant and broke it down into small bite size pieces that were easy to understand and not overwhelming.

The most amazing thing happened the first time she spoke with Hannah. She was able to tap into what motivates her and spurred her into dreaming big and taking action. Hannah never wanted to get a job, but by the time our discussion ended Hannah agreed that she could miss her beloved day program on Wednesdays. She was also excited about having chores. She has been consistently completing her chores since that day. I went to tuck her in tonight and she had folded her laundry without being asked.

I have learned a lot from Sandra, including how to keep my mouth shut when the SD team is offering money for the budget. Sandra wanted to virtually kick me. LOL! Speaking of virtual, Covid and the new normal made it possible for me to enlist her services. I initially reached out to ask for a name of an Independent Facilitator in Northern California. Sandra had been doing all her meetings virtually and she offered to work with us. Working virtually did not hinder our progress or the plan’s success.

The Self Determination team from the Regional Center was impressed with the level of detail and stated that they’ve never seen such a thorough plan. We also had our budget and spending plans drafted. It made their job easier. Usually people show up with nothing prepared and they must start from scratch. Sandra’s hard work enabled us to move from the IPP to budget and spending plan discussions.

Sandra said we should put everything into the plan, and to remember that we wouldn’t get everything. She was wrong! The Person-Centered Plan, drafted by Sandra, was well organized, services were tied to goals, and she justified the substantial increase in budget due to Hannah's unmet needs. All told, it was about 2 weeks from the IPP meeting for an approved budget and spending plan.

We are forever grateful for everything Sandra has helped us set in place for Hannah to dream big and achieve so much more than we ever thought she would.

November 1st is the go live date for SD and Hannah is already beginning to live her dream.

11/21/2020
Update: Hannah is thoroughly enjoying Self Determination! Hannah asked for a cordless stick vacuum for her room so that she could vacuum without falling over. I was telling Sandra today that isn’t so much about wanting to vacuum, but the feeling of being empowered. Sandra said, “That is exactly why I chose the name of my company.”
I strongly urge anyone who wants to explore Self Determination, or is signing up in June 2021 when it is open to all, to reach out to Sandra at Empower Person Centered Planning (PCP). She is a facilitator of dreams who partners with the participant and the family/caregiver to turn dreams into a reality.

Thank You Sandra!

Annette Ley

Entering Self Determination and having Sandra as my independent facilitator was one of the best decisions I have ever made. As my son got older, I realized that the traditional services offered by my regional center was no longer meeting his needs. I really wanted to customized a program for him yet was anxious to start the process. However, Sandra’s vast knowledge, professionalism and commitment relieved my anxiety and helped me navigate effortlessly through the process. She is very responsive and determined to make dreams come true! She is my SDP Super Hero!

Dale Y

We sought after Sandra to help us facilitate our transition to Self Determination from traditional Regional Center services. My sister is an adult with autism & epilepsy. Sandra is extremely professional, knowledgeable, experienced and compassionate. She's been perfect. I highly recommend her because she is extremely knowledgeable and prepared. She gives sound advice. She is empathetic and she knows about the challenges that one faces going through this process. She is very professional and prompt with her communication of every step along the way. Lastly, we are so grateful for her hard work in changing my sister's life, and our entire family's life.

Justin Tedford

Empower Pcp is a truly awesome business for any individual choosing to enter the self determination program through their local regional center. Sandra is extremely responsive to her clients and encourages them to dream big because that is one of the central principles of self determination, that the individual has control through a financial management system to not only get support in their homes and community, but to also engage in activities and pursuits that interest the individual. For me that would be skydiving.

On a more personal level, I am an individual with a disability that does not have any mental or intellectual disabilities. In the traditional services model of the regional center, this makes finding good caregivers extremely difficult, because most caregivers are trained to deal with people who are in the unfortunate position of not knowing what is going on. Sandra has helped me to navigate these traditional services agencies in order to get set up properly for self determination insuring I get the services I’m requesting from good quality help.

Since last October, I fell out with my supported living agency because they don’t have many adequate people for my individual needs. I was paying out of pocket to cover holes left by my supported living agency when they couldn’t staff me, to the agency I eventually want to use under self determination. Slowly, from the end of last October into the present, I have been increasingly paying out for support services. Sandra helped me to realize that I can get this money back, which was not what the regional center originally told me, as they said there were no direct payments to clients using non-vendored services outside of the regional center. With Sandra’s help I am now on my way to receiving a full refund for the costs I incurred, after she helped me file a notice of action and get a meeting with the head of the regional center.

Not only was this of great solace to me, but also to my father who resides in another state 3,000 miles away from me, so it is harder for him to make sure I’m on a good path in every aspect of my life, and since support is key for me, he wants to make sure I’m on the right path and not being taken advantage of. With all the work she has done to help me here, there is no hesitation that I would recommend her to other individuals and families.

Lastly, Sandra is a mother to a son with a disability, so I believe her excellent treatment of her clients with disabilities stems from that, if the treatment that we receive is not adequate she fights for our rights as though we are part of her family. She, I believe, wants fair treatment for all, regardless of disability or impairment! Thank you so much Sandra, and may empower pcp continue to generate success stories for years to come!

Greg Lee

To Whom It May Concern:
We would like to recommend Empower Person-Centered Plans to you to provide the Person-Centered Plan for your adult who is transitioning into the Self-Determination Program.

Our 26 year old son is extremely unique and has never fit into any ‘program’ offered by our Regional Center. Since our transition from high school at 22 years old we have paid out of pocket for art classes and created his own ‘day program curriculum’ with a Regional Center Funded Aide and LVN accompanying him into the community. Finally with Self—Determination these classes are being paid for now with his annual budget.

Jeremy is very artistic, truly has great talent even though he needs modified equipment to allow him to physically be able to paint. He also uses a wheelchair to ambulate and as we began the Person-Centered Plan with Sandra at Empower we were waiting for his first power chair to be delivered. During the Person-Centered Plan we developed a great vision of my son’s future art business with ideas from his team of items to put his art on, ways to monetize his art and even the name of his business, “Rays-Of-Light-Production.” We were even able to hire a job coach to help him with his business, develop a website for him, and a social media engagement/marketing strategies expert that has expertise and experience in product develop/design/and business models. Currently under construction.

While "self-determination" is funded through the HSBS waiver, we discovered that my son’s nursing services are funded through the HCBA waiver—and it turns out you can’t be on both waivers at the same time. Sandra contacted DDS, contacted our Regional Center’s Federal Contract’s Person and called a meeting to discuss this before we presented the Person-Centered Plan to the Regional Center. Ultimately the decision was made that my son would stay on the HCBA Waiver, and our Regional Center would fund the Self-Determination Program through their budget instead of through the HCBS Waiver.

While this extended the amount of time that it took for my son to enter Self-Determination, Sandra stayed with us and didn’t hesitate to continue supporting him. While our son has good support Monday through Friday during the day, I still felt like I was drowning in the amount of his care I needed to provide in the evenings and on weekends . Sandra also wrote the Person-Centered Plan to make the case that we needed more support on the weekends and we now have nursing care on the weekends too.

Regional Center had provided the modifications to a van we drive, but we had no idea that they would also help provide the access accommodations he needed for home accessibility so he could navigate our home independently with his new power chair with safety and to meet his PCP goals. We were required to receive a bid from a Regional Center Contractor which turned out to be the best, since he pointed out many things we had not even considered. We are still working out the details with Regional Center through the traditional system, and can’t wait to have our home accessible for safety and access to his least restrictive environment completed in 2021. Once modified, our son can navigate and access every room in the house and, his outside exit for safety in case of a fire where we live. Our area is also not accessible for "ACCESS" car services for pick up at our home.

Sandra at Empower Person-Centered Plans is experienced and knowledgeable expert in the processes and logistics of the services systems and available resources for children and family’s needs. She is
excellent in follow through, responsible, proactive and passionate about providing the perfect direction and consultation to make life accessible and compassionate for others. We are grateful and blessed to have her on our team.

Respectfully,
Greg and Lorie Lee

Susan Marino

Sandra was a joy to work with and made our journey into the Self Determination a simple, enjoyable and productive experience. I learned a lot along the way and she was willing and able to answer every one of my many questions. Sandra offered simple explanations to complicated issues, made wonderful suggestions and made sure that my daughter received everything for which she qualified. I cannot recommend her enough to help provide a Person Centered Plan. Sandra was incredibly knowledgeable, helpful, insightful and professional.

Leslie Ferguson

In caring for my brother with an intellectual disability, who I love so dearly and have a deep responsibility for, sometimes I find it all so very overwhelming and daunting. Even accessing the incredible resources that can help my brother can feel intimidating due to all the paperwork and the high stakes involved. I knew that Self-determination with the Regional Center was the right path, and I thought I could write the Person Centered Plan (PCP) and budget alone. I am a professional grant writer so I thought I could do it. But I soon realized I needed help. The most lucky day was finding Sandra and EMPOWER. She wrote a PCP that was surprisingly beautiful and powerful, and made me so happy to see my brother and his work, his hopes and dreams, just beaming at me from the plan. It was an unexpected gift. It allowed me to relax and recognize this could be a positive process. I had been actually a bit scared and intimidated by the process. Rather, working with Sandra was actually fun and embracing of my brother and me. In his PCP he shines. I want to thank her for her kindness and caring, while at the same time being so incredibly talented and competent!! I am deeply grateful to Sandra.

Some people don't understand that while it is worrying in so many ways to be a caregiver of a loved one.....it can bring so much light and love and wisdom into the caregivers world.
THANK YOU Sandra. I always say that my brother is an angel finder.....true yet one more time!!!
Obviously, I highly recommend Sandra to anyone looking for help with writing these plans, or any other service she provides!!!

Jan Opsvig

I would like to recommend Empower Person-Centered Plans. Sandra prepared My daughter’s Person-Centered Plan. In the process of learning about my daughter’s dreams she had some creative ideas that have come to fruition. After identifying the unmet needs in my daughter’s services she advocated for the additional services she would need to achieve her goals.
Previously she was in a Day Program that had her traveling around town in a group—most days she didn’t even want to go. They just killed time in the community and it wasn’t individualized to her needs or meaningful to her at all.
She had been working at our local Dickies Pit BBQ and this program wouldn’t even provide a job coach to allow for her to work more than 2 hours a week.
In the near future she will be attending community college classes with the Support of her job coach -- we were able to hire a past ABA direct support professional to be our daughter’s job coach for 40 hours a week. She has already provided the support for my daughter to earn her FoodSafety Certificate online and now her hours at Dickies Pit BBQ are going to increase with her support. My daughter’s dream has been to start her own Dog-Walking business. But she has some stamina issues so Sandra suggested she have another dog-related business at the same time. During her person-centered plan her team came up with the idea and now she’s going to be baking dog biscuits between walking dogs too!
Once things are safer she will have booths at our local Farmer’s Markets and other Events, as well as a website to sell her treats. Also once things open up we are transitioning her Respite hours to a Personal Assistant who will be accompanying her to activities in the community and planning fun things for her and her friends to do on the weekends.
We were even able to purchase a Tandem bicycle so now she can join the family on our weekend bike rides.
We boldly went where few had gone before with Sandra’s help. My daughter was the 8th person to enter the Self-Determination Program at our Regional Center. Sandra identified many unmet needs and was able to increase my daughter’s budget by 64% above the 12 previous months expenditures. We also added Independent Living services and it has been amazing How her willingness to help with household chores has improved now that someone other than myself is teaching her to do them. My daughter’s staff are supporting her at our home temporarily until it’s safer in the community. She is testing new dog treat recipes on our dog and loving baking them with her staff.
She is feeling Empowered and is truly living a self-determined life!